HOBOKEN -- Marchetto Higgins Stieve, a Hoboken-based architectural firm, announced this week that they have been awarded a Merit Award in the “Built” category by the New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-NJ) for its "Apse-Traction" project in Hoboken, N.J., an abstract apse addition to a turn-of-the-century church-turned office.

The church, which is located at 13th Street and Willow Avenue on a brownstone-lined street in Hoboken, N.J., was originally home to a Norwegian congregation before it was sold to the American Legion in the 1930s.

Dean Marchetto, the founder of Marchetto Higgins Stieve, purchased the church in 1995 for his firm's office, and decided to add the apse in response to the growing firm's need for more space.

Unlike many traditional European churches, which have a semicircular recess with a semi-dome at the back of the church, also known as an apse, this church had a flat back. As a modern architect who draws inspiration from well-known contemporary architects like Charles Gwathmey, for whom he worked early in his career, and Frank Gehry, Marchetto liked the idea of adding a modern interpretation of an apse.

For more on this project and its award, see an upcoming edition of the Hoboken Reporter.